Irish Basketball Super League
Belfast Star 98 Sligo Allstars 97
(After Triple Overtime)

With the Cup finals taking place in Dublin this weekend, Belfast Star have a week off competitive action – time to recover from the tumultuous scenes in La Salle last Saturday night when visiting Sligo All-Stars took them to three periods of overtime before Adrian Fulton’s side emerged victorious by a single point.

This was a game in which Star were coasting by half time, 21 points ahead on a score of 49-28, and looking like they would probably rack up a winning margin of 30 point of more. Indeed, many in the packed venue might even have been thinking about an early exit, such was the home side’s dominance.

But sport can be a funny old game. Instead of continuing their supremacy, Star suddenly found it impossible to score early in the third quarter. Sligo brought more grit to their defence and, while Star were still getting their shots away, nothing would drop for the home side.

Sligo, on the other hand, found the scoring touch that had eluded them in the first half and began to eat into the Star lead. Former Star favourite Shon Briggs was pivotal to the visitors’ offence and when Sligo reeled off a quick nine points without reply, Star knew they were getting forced into a game.

The key moment of the encounter came midway through the third quarter when Star’s Max Richardson appeared to be hauled to the floor by Tvalabeishvili of Sligo. Tempers flared between the two players and a confrontation between the pair quickly turned into a scuffle and then escalated into a proper melee as other players joined in.

As tempers calmed, it took the referees several minutes to decide on what course of action to take. When they did, it wasn’t good news for the home side. Both Richardson and Sligo’s Tvalabeishvili were ejected as expected – but Star’s Tamyrik Fields, who had flown onto the court to defend his teammate in the brief shemozzle, was also thrown out of the game.

By that stage, Sligo had reduced their deficit to 12 points and they then continued to nibble into the home lead, ending the quarter just five behind, 61-56 to Fulton’s side.

Within a minute of the fourth, Sligo had surged in front and they quickly pushed their advantage to seven points before a three-pointer from Albanian Frenki Lilaj crowned a fightback from Star, driving them to a one-point advantage. A Willams free-throw, however, sent the game to overtime, 77 apiece.

With Star’s long home unbeaten run now under severe threat, this was a nail-biting time for the spectators. The first period of OT failed to produce a winner, each side adding five points to their tally, with Briggs having tied the affair again with a deep three-pointer.

De’Ondre Jackson was the one to level things up for Star in the second OT period, his two-pointer tying it at 86 apiece.  

Star’s hopes appeared dashed shortly into OT number three when Sligo surged to a five-point lead and Jackson fouled out. But then, not for the first time this season, Star captain Conor Quinn raised the roof as he hit two free throws followed by a great three to put Star ahead by one. Sligo came back and went ahead by one before Star’s player of the night Lilaj converted two free throws with just four seconds on the clock to earn a mammoth home win and maintain their lead in the table.

Afterwards, head coach Fulton hailed the win as the best of the season.

“That was exhausting for everyone but I’m so proud of the grit we showed when we were down to just one professional on the court towards the end. The guys had to show character and they certainly did that,” he said.

Big man Frenki Lilaj had a great performance for Star with 24 points, 17 rebounds and the critical final free throws to win the game. Other notable performances came from Jackson, Paddy McGaharan, and the Quinns – Conor and Aidan. Next up for Star is the long trip to Killorglin on Saturday,  January 27.